Homemade Laundry Detergent

I guess I'm not sure if I should call this homemade since all three products come already made.  I just slapped them together.  It's a heck of a lot cheaper than the store-bought detergent, I'll tell you that.  Wanna know more?

Here's what you'll need to make it...

1 Bar Washing Soap (Lirio, Zote, Fels Naptha)
2C Super Washing Soda (Not baking soda)
2C Borax

Start by grating your soap into a large bowl.  You want it fine so it will dissolve in the wash.
UPDATE: Don't bother grating it.  After making this several times, it is much easier to cut the bar of soap into julienned strips!  Just throw them in your food processor with 1/4C of Borax or Washing Soda and let her rip!  The powder helps to break the soap down into tiny little dots and it doesn't clog up your processor.  I use a small processor like below and I get it done in three small batches!

A couple of minutes in, decide that it's going to be too time-consuming

and switch to a larger grater.

I saw a recipe online (of which there are many!) that said you need 

to use half as much washing soda and Borax as there are soap shavings.

So, I measured my soap shavings when they were larger.  It came

to 5 1/2C, but I thought they might not dissolve.

So I put them in a small food processor to chop more finely.
So much for time-saving, LOL!

See the difference in size after chopping?

I figured I'd better re-measure since there was an obvious difference.

It now came to about 4 Cups.

Feeling better about the size, I added 2 cups of Washing Soda.

And 2 cups of Borax.  Note: I felt the need to cover my nose/mouth.

This powder is so fine and it just floats in the air.  I tend to be sensitive
to these types of things and I could feel it in  my sinuses big time and
my lungs mildly.  Next time, I'll wear a painters mask or something.

Using a plastic or metal spoon (not wood) so it doesn't 

absorb odors, stir the mixture well.

It will look like this when you're done.  Now, I didn't measure,

but I'm going to assume there is 8 cups in here.  Seems logical.

Eureka!  I knew I kept this dish tab container for something!

 The best part is that it has this nice flip-top lid!

 I added a spare Tablespoon measure to 

use each time I wash.   Use 1T per load.

Notes:

I was surprised at the odd smell of the Lirio soap.  It smelled really pretty in the package, but really odd when I was grating it.  I think I'll try a different kind next time.

But that could be awhile because this 8C of detergent comes to 128 Tablespoons, which means 128 Loads!

I used 67c worth of Borax, 64c worth of Washing Soda, and 1.09 for the Lirio.  That means this whole batch costs $2.40!  Divide that by 128 loads and you have 1.875 CENTS per load!  My old store bought Gain costs about 40 cents a load!  That is a 95% savings!  That's crazy!!!

I just tried this tonight and I'm surprised at how soft the clothes are.  I am still finishing up my old bottle of fabric softener, so I still used that.  Maybe it's my imagination.  The good news...that weird smell from the Lirio...gone.  Clothes just smell clean!  Thank goodness!

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